This week marks an important milestone for Marley Spoon Australia – we’re turning five! That means it’s been five years since our first customer deliveries, and five years of sharing deliciously different meals with our Marley Spooners. It’s been an absolute pleasure to be a part of your homes and kitchens for such a long time.

There’s no better way to celebrate a birthday than with an extravagant cake! Yasmin Newman from our Culinary Team created a special recipe for an incredible Lemon Curd Layer Cake with Lemon Ripple Cheesecake Frosting, Candied Orange and Pistachio. You’ll find the complete recipe below for this three-tiered wonder, and we’ve included options for baking a more simple two-tiered or sheet cake versions. If you’re sharing your baked creations to social media, be sure to tag us with @marleyspoonau and #eatmarleyspoon.

Thank you for being part of our journey so far – we look forward to another five years of cooking together!

Marley Spoon Lemon Curd Layer Cake with Cheesecake Frosting, Candied Orange and Pistachio

Serves 12-16 | Prep + cook time 2½ hours

Vanilla cake

• 125ml (½ cup) buttermilk

• 2 tbs orange juice

• 160ml (⅔ cup) vegetable oil

• 1½ tbs vanilla extract

• 250g (1⅔ cups) cake or plain flour

• 1½ tsp baking powder

• 150g unsalted butter, softened, cubed

• 275g (1¼ cups) caster sugar

• 110g (½ cup) brown sugar

• 4 eggs

Lemon ripple cheesecake frosting

• 250g cream cheese, softened, chopped

• 125g unsalted butter, chopped, softened

• 225g (1½ cups) icing sugar mixture, sifted

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 125ml (½ cup) lemon curd

Candied orange syrup

• 220g (1 cup) caster sugar

• 250ml (1 cup) water

• 2 oranges, zested into thin strips, juiced

• 3 mandarins, segmented

• 80g pistachios, roughly chopped

Equipment

• Scales, or measuring cups and spoons

• 3 x 20cm round cake pans

• Baking paper

• 3 mixing bowls

• Sieve

• Fine sea salt

• Electric mixer

• Mixing bowls

• Spatula

• Small saucepan

Method

To make the cake, preheat the oven to 160°C fan-forced/180°C. Grease three 20cm round cake pans, then line the bases with baking paper.

Place the buttermilk, orange juice, vegetable oil and vanilla extract in a bowl. Sift the flour, baking powder and 1½ tsp fine sea salt into a separate bowl. Set both bowls aside.

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and both sugars for 3 minutes or until light and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until well combined after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. On low speed, gradually add the buttermilk mixture until combined. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat for 5 minutes or until the batter doubles in volume and turns white. Add the flour mixture and beat until just combined. Divide the batter among the lined pans and bake for 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.

Meanwhile, to make the lemon ripple cheesecake frosting, using an electric mixer, beat the butter and cream cheese until smooth and there are no lumps remaining. Add the icing sugar, vanilla and ¼ tsp fine sea salt, and beat until combined. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat for 2 minutes or until fluffy. Spoon over 125ml (½ cup) lemon curd and set aside (it will ‘ripple’ once spread over the cake).

To assemble, trim the top of the cakes to level, if necessary. Place one cake on a cake stand or serving plate. Spread over ½ cup cheesecake frosting. Repeat with the second cake and ½ cup frosting. Top with the remaining cake. Spread ⅓ cup frosting around the sides, scraping off in places to achieve a ‘naked cake’ look. Place in the freezer for 20-30 minutes to firm slightly.

Meanwhile, to make the candied orange syrup, place the sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium-high heat and stir until the sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil, then cook for 13-15 minutes or until thickened and syrupy. Remove from the heat and stir in the orange zest and 125ml (½ cup) orange juice. Cool completely.

Remove the cake from the freezer. Spread over the remaining frosting, swirling the top. Top with the mandarin segments, pour over the candied orange syrup and scatter with the pistachios. Enjoy!

Three-tiered cakes look extra impressive, but if you’re new to baking or don’t have three cake pans, you can make this as an easier two-layer cake or even a one-layer sheet cake, like in the image below. It will taste just as good!

Two-layer cake

Simply divide the batter between two 20cm round cake pans instead of three and bake for an extra 15 minutes (40 minutes in total). Spread half the lemon ripple cheesecake frosting between each cake layer, then follow the remainder of the recipe.

One-layer sheet cake

Simply pour all the batter into a 23 x 33cm rectangular cake pan and bake for 30 minutes. Spread all the frosting over the cake (no need to reserve any to scrape around the sides), then follow the remainder of the recipe.